Hope
by RedTailedHawkens
Summary: Is there any hope for Zoe forgiving Wade for what he did? What would it take to bring them back together? My response to 2x16, takes place a while after the events of that night. Story is better than summary.


Author's Note: Okay, so, this is my response to 2x16. I am not even going to go into how I felt about that episode because that would fill up, like, two or three pages. This is just an idea I had of something that might happen somewhere down the line. This is a one-shot.

Hope

The sun came streaming in through the hotel room, waking Zoe from her surprisingly peaceful slumber. She had not slept that well in a long time. When she opened her eyes, she was reminded why her sleep had been so peaceful; she had not slept alone. She watched him, briefly, the way the sun hit him just right, the rise and fall of his chest. She had missed him so much. Then, as she shook the sleep, she started to panic. What had happened last night? How had she ended up in bed with Wade Kinsella of all people? She did not feel hung-over, so she could not have been drunk. She was not sure if that made it better or worse.

Slowly, the events of last night came back to her, she remembered calling Wade, and how they had ended up here. It did not clear the confusion though. If anything, it made her more confused. Quickly and quietly as she could, she disentangled herself from him and started looking for her clothes. She had not decided if she was going to sneak out or not, but either way, she could not stay there with him. She needed to be dressed when he woke up. Actually, what she needed was a time machine, but she doubted she would find one of those.

"Hey." Zoe jumped. She had not heard him stir, but when she looked over, there he was, awake, eyes open and everything, "You okay?"

"I …" she just let it hang there. "What do you mean?" she finally stuttered out.

"After last night. Are you doin' okay after last night?"

"You mean?" she motioned to the bed, but he just shook his bed.

"No, I meant, you know, the other thing."

Right. The reason she had called him in the first place, "I'm doing better."

They just stared at each other, "Listen, Wade, about last night, it doesn't mean-"

"I know."

"What?"

"I know it didn't mean anything. That's what you were goin' to say, right? That it didn't mean anythin'?"

Zoe rolled her eyes, "Please tell me you're not doing that thing again. God, I hate it when you do that thing."

"What thing?"

"That thing you did after the first time we slept together? Where you pretend it meant nothing to you and put up walls and-"

"Whoa, whoa, hey, that's not what I meant, okay." He sat up and waited for her to calm down, "Look, I didn't mean it didn't mean anything _to me_. Of course it did. I just also know that what it meant to me isn't necessarily what it meant to you. And I know that after … I got no right to expect anythin' from you. You were in a rough place last night, so, whatever you want or need for it to mean or not mean, it's okay."

Zoe nodded, "Thank you."

"For the record though, I haven't done that since, well, you know." He smiled sheepishly.

Zoe scoffed, "It's been almost two years. You really expect me to believe that you, Wade Kinsella, have not had sex since …" she stopped. She almost said me, but then she remembered, it had not been her. That had been the problem. If it had been her, they would still be together.

"I know that I never deserved you, or your forgiveness, but if I ever wanted a chance, a tiny possibility, I knew goin' back to my old ways wasn't the way to go. 'Sides, I didn't really want to … with anybody else. Plus, my therapist thought it was a good idea, so-"

"Whoa, wait, what?" Zoe said, stifling giggled, "Did you just say therapist?"

"Yeah, I did, and you can giggle all you want. I deserve it, but yes, a few months after we split, I started seein' a therapist."

"Why?"

"Because, when you spend your whole life feelin' like the world is screwin' you out of somethin' good ever happenin' to you, and then somethin' finally does, and you fuck it up, you start to think maybe the world wasn't the problem. Somebody suggested it, and I figured, it's not like they could make me any worse, right?" He gave her that classic smirk. It made her want to melt, and she knew she needed to clear her head.

"I'm gonna go shower." She said quickly.

"What about me?"

_What about him? Is he asking to join me or something?_ "Wade, I told you, last night-"

"No, I didn't mean … I just meant, when you get out, you want me here, or you want me gone?"

She felt a little weird that he was asking, even though she shouldn't, "Do you want to be gone?"

"I just want to do what you want from me. I don't want to make things rough on you."

_To late for that,_ Zoe thought. "I don't … I can't … just, do what you want. Stay, don't stay, I can't deal with this right now."

Wade nodded.

* * *

Zoe tried to still her breathing as the hot water massaged her scalp. Her thoughts went back to last night. Of course, this had not really started last night; it had started four days ago, when she had gotten that call from her mother, and Zoe was too logical of a person not to start from the beginning.

* * *

_"Mom, sorry, I can't talk long, I have a patient waiting." It was a lie; she just did not want to deal with her mom right now. It had been a hectic week, and she was finally, finally getting a moments peace. Why did the phone have to ring? Or, more specifically, why had she picked it up?_

"_Zoe, sweetie, I think you should sit down." _

_Her mom sounded weird. Suddenly, Zoe started to get nervous, "Mom, what's going on?"_

"_It's your father."_

"_Dad? What's wrong, is he okay?"_

"_No, he's not?"_

_Zoe started to panic, "Is he sick?"_

"_He was. He's not anymore though."_

"_Why call me now then? Why didn't you call me when he was sick?"_

"_I didn't want to worry you, not until we knew for sure …" her mother trailed off. It sounded like she was crying._

"_Mom?"_

"_Zoe, he passed away last night."_

"_What?" she wanted to scream, but she couldn't seem to get out more than a small, scared little croak._

"_I'm so sorry sweetie."_

"_Why didn't you call me?" Zoe asked again, getting angry. Anger was good, better than grief, and it was what she needed. Besides, she had a right to be angry, "If he was that sick, you should have called. I could have come, I could have helped. At the very least, I could have said goodbye. I can't believe you robbed me of that chance."_

"_Zoe, sweetheart, calm down."_

"_No, I won't calm down! You are a selfish bitch and you always have been! You should have called me! How could you think I wouldn't …" she started choking on her words. She felt the tears building, so she just slammed the phone down and collapsed in her office chair._

"_Dr. Hart?" Zoe looked up to see Brick looking in on her, "I heard yellin'. What's -?" he stopped when he saw her crying. Zoe did not cry often, and she let people see her cry even less often._

"_Dr. Hart?"_

_She tried to speak, to explain, but she couldn't get the words out. She just kept balling pathetically. Brick called Lavon to come pick her up._

_When she finally calmed down, she told Lavon she needed to go pack, and then she needed him to drive her to the airport. When he asked where she was going, she just said, "My father's funeral," and then ran to her room._

* * *

_She hadn't talked the whole car ride. Lavon tried to make conversation, but she just didn't have the energy. When they got there though, she got out of the car and turned to him, "Lavon, I'm sorry. You've been great, you really have, I just can't …" She started to get choked-up._

_Lavon hugged her, "I know Z, I know." He let go, "But listen, if you decide you need to talk, Lavon Hayes will be here."_

"_I know," she said with a nod._

_She had settled into her hotel room, called her mother to apologize, and tried to think of what she would say at the funeral. _

* * *

_When she woke up the next day, she found a nice, conservative, black dress, and headed to the church. She was one of the first people that the Reverend called on to speak, and when she was up there, a lot of her relatives just kept looking at her weird. It had been unsettling to say the least._

_When he cousin Danielle had gone up, she had given a nice, normal, "He was my uncle and I loved him," kind of speech, but near the end, she had locked eyes with Zoe and said, "Uncle Ethan was more than my uncle. He was like a father to me." There was no kindness in her eyes; they were pure ice._

_Zoe hated that she had to brave this alone. She thought her mom would come, if for no other reason, to support her daughter, but she had said she just wasn't up for it. At first Zoe thought maybe it was because of what she had said on the phone, even though she had apologized, but her mother assured her that they were fine, that she knew Zoe had been upset and had not meant what she said, and that she just had no interest in going. That may have been the truth, it may not have, but as Zoe found out at the reception, whether or not Candice Hart had actually wanted to go or not did not matter._

* * *

_Everybody had been avoiding her, and when she went off to find the bathroom, she heard some of her relatives talking, "I still can't believe she showed up, especially since her slut of a mother wasn't invited."_

"_I bet she came back for the will reading. I heard the little illegitimate's actual father was some old guy from the middle of nowhere. Probably doesn't have a penny to his name, and since she couldn't get a surgeon job, she probably just wants the money."_

"_God, she breaks up her parents marriage, breaks his heart, and now she wants to mooch off his money. That bitch."_

"_I still can't believe the reverend called her up first. Did you hear him call her Ethan Hart's daughter? I wanted to puke."_

"_What is she even doing at the reception? It's not like she's actually related to anybody here?"_

_Zoe headed in the other direction, trying to steady her breathing. So that's why everybody was looking at her weird. She had not thought about it before, the fact that she was not actually related to these people; the fact that the people she had grown up thinking of as uncle's, aunt's, and cousin's were from the side of her family that had been a lie._

_Did they really blame her?_ Her mother_ had the affair. _Her mother _broke her dad's heart. She had nothing to do with it. None of it was her fault. It did not make it sting any less. She had not been close with all of them, but there were some, like her cousin Hetty. They used to play together all the time before her parents split, and she used to help Aunt Janice in the kitchen all the time. Aunt Sheryl used to watch her when her parents were too busy with work. _

_She had wanted to believe that it was just them, a few bitter relatives talking, and that the others did not think of her like that, but with the way people were avoiding her, how they were being sort of polite, but distant and sometimes cold, it was clear that none of them thought she had a right to be here, mourning with his real family. She was not his daughter. She knew he had not thought that way. _

_Her dad had loved her, and over the past three years, they had worked on their relationship and gotten to a place where she felt like she could call him up to talk about anything and he would be happy to hear from her. _He _would want her here, she told herself, but as true as she knew it was, it did not make her feel much better._

_It was the way her grandfather looked at her that finally did her in. She remembered how when she was little he would come over and say how pretty she was, and how she needed to stop growing so quickly. Now, he looked at her like he did not even know her. It was the sort of a look you gave a complete stranger, and not a stranger you were eager to meet._

_That's when she called Lavon, "Lavon Hayes."_

"_Hey, it's me."_

"_Big Z." he said. His voice was so gentle, and she knew he could hear how upset she was._

"_I'm sorry for calling, I just … I really need a friend right now."_

"_Okay, well, I'm here." _

"_I wish you actually were. I could use a friendly face." She said, looking around at the cold stairs and distant looks._

_Lavon was quiet for a moment, "Well…" he started cautiously, then stopped, seemingly questioning what he was going to say._

"_Well what?"_

"_Well, I'm not sure if you want to know this but, Wade's in New York. And I'm happy to talk to you on the phone, or fly down if you like, but I wouldn't get there for a few hours."_

"_Thank you."_

"_So, you want meet to fly down, or…?"_

"_No, I'll be all right. Thank you."_

"_Bye."_

"_Bye."_

_She could tell that Lavon thought, with their history, she would be hesitant, but the truth was, the second he said Wade was here, she did not even have to think about it. She would have called him right then, except she did not want to be rude and hang up on Lavon. The second he hung up though, she dialed Wade's number._

"_Hey Doc."_

"_How'd you know it was me?"_

"_Amazing new invention. It's called caller I.D. You should check it out."_

_She couldn't help but smile. Wade's sense of humor was one of the things she loved about him, "Listen, um, I heard you were in New York, and, well, I am too, because, I just, well, anyway, I was hoping, if you weren't busy right now, I mean, I don't want you to drop everything to come and get me-"_

"_Where are you?" he asked, interrupted her babbling. She gave him the address, and he said he was on his way._

* * *

_When Wade got there, she was sitting alone, drinking a glass of wine. She was a little tipsy, but not drunk, and in spite of herself, she was happy to see him. When he walked over to her, she wrapped her arms around him, and he had returned the hug. They hung around a little, because she felt she owed it to her father, but after fifteen minutes, she told Wade she wanted to leave, and he had called a cab._

* * *

_They got back to her hotel room, and she had asked him to come up, because she didn't want to be alone. The second she locked the door behind her, she broke down. She was crying so hard she never thought she'd stop. Wade took her in his arms and held her for as long as she needed. _

_When she finally stopped crying, they sat on the bed, and she had told him about the funeral and the reception and what she had heard, and he listened, comforting her in any way he could. She started to cry again, and he held her and stroked her back. He was being so sweet, and she had not been this close to him in so long. It made her ache. So, she had kissed him, and he had let her. She didn't stop crying, the tears were still rolling down her cheeks, but that didn't stop either of them. It wasn't until she reached for his belt that he jumped back, coming back to reality._

"_Whoa, uh, you know, I don't think … maybe I should go."_

"_What? Why?"_

"_Because you're upset, and vulnerable, and you've had a lot to drink, and I don't want you doin' somethin' you regret."_

"_I'm not drunk. A little tipsy maybe, but-"_

"_Well, you're still upset, and I can't take advantage of you."_

_She stood up and stalked toward him, "Wade, I'm a big girl, I know what I'm doing." She went to kiss him, but he dodged her._

"_Doc, listen to me, you're not yourself. You'll hate yourself in the mornin', and you'll hate me."_

"_No I won't."_

"_Yeah, you will. I can't do this now with you."_

_Then Zoe had gotten mad, "What, because Wade Kinsella never has sex for the wrong reasons?" She picked something up off the floor and chucked it at him, she had no clue what it was, but she didn't really care. Of course, he ducked, but she just picked up something else, and she kept it up as she yelled at him, "Because you're such a good guy? What, do I need to get you drunk, huh? Is that how it works? Do you need to be drunk? Or do you need to lose some big competition again? Is that how it goes? Is that the formula for getting Wade Kinsella to fuck up and fuck?" He walked up to her and grabbed her arms, trying to calm her down as she seethed. "Is it just that I was never good enough?" She wasn't yelling anymore. She was crying again, and her voice was small, "Did you ever even care about me?"_

_He looked down at her, "Zoe, look at me. I cared about you, okay. I know I fucked up back then, doin' what I did, but I cared about you. I_ care_ about you. That's exactly why I can't do this."_

"_You do?" she asked, sniffling._

_He gave her a sad, reassuring smile, "My whole life, I've never cared about anyone else."_

"_If that's really true, if you really care about me, then prove it," she looked up at him, "Make love to me Wade."_

"_Zoe, I-"_

"_If you mean what you just said, then you'll do this for me."_

_Before he could respond, she kissed him, and this time, when she reached for his belt, he didn't pull away._

* * *

When Zoe came back in the room, Wade was still there, and despite what she said, she was relieved.

"I ordered room service." He said.

She looked at the food he ordered; it was exactly what she would have ordered.

"How did you know what I would want?"

He shrugged, "I know what you get at the Rammer Jammer."

She looked at him, confused, "But … but you almost never serve me anymore."

It was true. After what happened, Wade thought it would be easier for her if he didn't serve her. He didn't want to force her to be around him. If she came to him, that was great, but he let her set the rules, and he never broke them.

Plus, after he and Lemon bought the place, he didn't serve as much anymore. He still did sometimes, but being co-owner took a lot of time and effort.

"Yeah, but that don't mean I don't pay attention."

Zoe blushed, "Well, thanks … for everything."

He nodded. They both knew she wasn't just talking about the food, "So, you wanna talk about it, or … " he waited, holding his breath.

"Have you really not been with anybody since … that night?" Wade nodded, "You swear?"

"On my mother's grave."

She looked at him, his eyes so serious. She knew he was telling the truth. His mother's grave was the one thing that, if he swore on it, he would never lie. And he knew she knew it, which is probably why he had done it.

"You could've, you know. I mean, we were broken up."

"I know."

"I've been with-"

"I know."

"You do?"

"We still live across the way. I can see if you have company, or if you don't come home. 'Sides, Bluebell is a small town, people talk." Zoe smirked. That was an understatement, "But it wasn't like I had any right to judge or get upset. You needed to move on; I needed to let you." They were quiet again for a minute. Zoe had a feeling that this breakfast would have a lot of quiet moments.

"So, tell me about this whole therapist thing."

He shrugged, "What d'you wanna know?"

She took a sip of her juice, "What's she-"

"He." Wade interrupted, "I specifically got a guy. Easier to open up to a guy, plus, no risk of … misunderstandings."

Zoe nodded, "It's easier to open up to a guy?"

"Well, I've sort of done it before, ya know? Never completely. I never completely opened up to anybody, but I've vented about stuff to Tucker, Lavon, Earl, so, I figured it'd be easier."

Zoe nodded, "What do you guys talk about … I mean, you don't have to tell me."

"I don't mind." He thought for a minute, "I guess we talk about, well, me."

"I'm sure you love that." Zoe said, rolling her eyes. Wade laughed.

She missed his laugh. It's not like she never heard it anymore. After all this time, they had sort of gotten to be friends. Not close, but they could be around each other, talk about insignificant stuff. Sometimes, she wanted more. She missed the Wade that she could open up to, the Wade who she knew would be one hundred percent honest with her when he thought she was being stupid or crazy, the Wade who could put everything in perspective. Sometimes, she got glimpses. Sometimes, when she had really needed to vent, and she knew he was the only one who would understand, she had swallowed her pride and gone to him. And he helped however he could. He was good at it, because he knew her. But as much as she wanted to be close with him again, he would always be the guy who cheated on her and broke her heart. She wished, so badly, that she could just forget what he did, that things could go back to the way they had been, but she couldn't forget. She would never forget. That night on the bench with him was forever seared into he memory, and it hurt to think about it.

"Doc?"

She looked up, "Sorry, I guess I zoned out."

"It's cool."

"So, you were saying, you talk about you."

He smiled, "It's not like it sounds. We talked about what's wrong with me; how I got to be so screwed up."

"That must take a while."

"Why you think I'm still goin' after a year?" he joked.

Her mind went back to that night. Usually, she hated thinking about it, but maybe she needed to. Suddenly, she felt bold, and she asked what she had wanted to, but been afraid to ask for so long, "Why did you do it Wade?"

He looked at her, confused both by her words, and her change in tone, "It bein'?"

"That night? _Her?_" she said that part bitterly, "You never told me, and I just- I just want to know."

Wade stood and started pacing. Then, he turned back to her, "All right, listen, when I start to explain this, it's gonna sound like I'm blamin' you, and I need you to know I'm not. At all. I'm just tryin' to show you what my stupid mind was thinkin' back then." Zoe nodded, and Wade came and sat back down, "You remember that sign you gave me? How you told me you knew I was gonna win, that you believed in me reachin' my dreams?" She nodded again, "Well, and again, this was just me bein' stupid and insecure, but, when you said that, you really believed in me, so much, and you wanted me to win so bad, and I just started to think, what if I didn't, ya know? What if I lost? What if I never got the money for the bar, and just kept workin' at the Rammer Jammer the rest of my life? You wanted me to be more, but what if I couldn't be? Would you still want to be with me? Would you leave me? Or, ya know, stay with me out of guilt and always blame me for ruinin' your life an' draggin' you down with me into the muck? I was so scared of losin' you, of not bein' able to be the guy you thought I could be. I thought that you wanted me to be him because the guy I was wasn't good enough. And what if I never could be good enough?"

"I never said any of that. I never thought-"

"I know, okay. Like I said, it was just me bein' stupid. But I freaked out, and I started drinkin' 'cause I was freakin' out so bad, and then I got even stupider and drunker and got into a fight with George and fired him, and, well, you know the rest."

Zoe nodded, "So, because you were scared of losing me, you did the one thing that you knew would push me away?" Wade nodded, "That's so …"

"I know." He said, "But I just … I just wanted to do the one thing that I knew I could do without disappointin' anyone, and I wanted to do it with someone whose opinion of me didn't matter." Zoe nodded, processing what Wade was saying, "And, you know, you said that night that I did the one thing I must'a known you couldn't forgive, and I think you were right. I think maybe I wanted to pushed you away, before I got more attached. Maybe I wanted to lose you on my own terms, if I had to lose you."

"Then why not just breakup with me?"

" 'Cause I didn't know. This was all subconscious stuff."

"So, you figured this all out with your therapist." Wade nodded, "So you … talk about me then?"

Wade laughed like it was the dumbest question in the world, " 'Course I do doc. Bein' with you, hands down best time of my life. Losin' you, stupidest thing I ever did."

"Then how come you never tried to win me back?" She had been a little curious at the time. He had begged her forgiveness when she broke up with him, but afterwards, he didn't seek her out of try to get her to forgive him. Not that she would have forgiven him, but she had wondered why he hadn't fought for her a little.

" 'Cause I knew I had no right to. I mean, I doubt you would have forgiven me, but even if you had, I would've fucked it up again, because that's what I used to do when somethin' good happened to me. Fact was, you believed in me, and that was an amazin' feelin', but it didn't make me believe in myself. And I knew, 'til I could fix that and get my shit together, I wouldn't have a chance. We wouldn't have a chance. I needed to learn to believe in myself, and stop screwin' stuff up for myself because I didn't think I deserved to be happy, or because I was so convinced that stuff would go south for me that I made them go south."

"Used to?"

"What?"

"You said that's what you used to do? You mean you don't anymore?"

"Well, I'm not sayin' I'm the healthiest mentally, but I've made a lot of progress. He had me make this list," Wade got up and got out his wallet. He handed her a piece of paper with a lot of words on it that made no sense out of context, "Of all my skills and good qualities. Even small stuff like, I know how to tie my shoes, I know how to dress myself, I know how to brush my teeth, but, bigger stuff too like I know how to drive a stick, I know how to cook, I know how to play guitar. He said I wasn't allowed to use anythin' sex related," Zoe smirked at that, "because that was the only area in my life where I had confidence, and I used it to compensate for a lack of confidence in all other areas. Anyway, after I was done, he made me count all the stuff on there."

Zoe looked at it, "It's a nice long list." She squinted, "Hey, I didn't know you knew sign language."

Wade laughed, "Yeah, well, when my mom was sick, she was bedridden for a while, so she liked to have somethin' to keep her mind busy so she didn't go insane. She decided she wanted to learn sign language, so we took some books out of the library and learned it together. Jesse too."

"I had no idea." She said, impressed.

Wade shrugged, trying to hide his slightly proud smile, "Yeah, well. You know."

"Hey, so, I have a question. Why were you here?"

He looked at her, confused, "You invited me in."

"No, I mean, New York? Lavon never told me."

"Well, I could lie and say I was here on business, and I have done business in New York, and I did find some to do now so I had an excuse, but, truth is, when I heard about your dad, and that you were goin' down here, I just … it's not like I expected you to call me or anythin', I just thought, maybe you might need someone, and I didn't want you to have to wait for somebody to take a plane."

"You came all the way to New York, just in case?" Wade nodded, "I can't believe you did that."

"I didn't want you to have to go through this alone."

They were quiet for a minute, "Wade, about last night," he waited for her to continue, "I was really emotional, and I was vulnerable, you were right," Wade nodded, looking down. He figured he knew where this was going, "But still, being with you again, it was nice." His head shot back up and he stared at her, confused. "And everything you've done, the therapy, coming down here, all these things for me-"

"Hold on there, doc. It won't all for you. I mean, you know, the comin' down here was, and you were definitely a factor in the therapy, but that was still somethin' I needed to do. I did that for me."

Zoe nodded, "Oh."

"Not that … I mean, I would do anythin' for you, but if I hadn't been on that couch for myself, I never would have gotten anywhere. If there is anythin' I've learned, it's that you can't be good enough, until you believe your good enough. I wanted you back so badly, but I was smart enough to know that that might never happen. I still had to learn to appreciate myself though, because I would always be miserable otherwise, with or without you."

"And have you? Learned to appreciate yourself I mean?"

"I think so. I know I'm more than just Crazy Earl's son who never went to college. I can be smart in my own way, I got a good sense of humor, I care about people, and I help them when I can-"

"Yeah, I can read the list, you don't need to recite it."

"Important thing is I believe it. And I do. I mean, I'm scum for what I did to you, and always will be, but, generally speakin', I'm not so bad a guy."

He gave her a small smile, and she returned it.

* * *

She decided she did not need to stay for the will reading. If there was anything important, they could call her, but she didn't need to sit in a room with a bunch of people who thought this was the only reason she had come in the first place. Since Wade had really come down for her, when she said she was going back, he figured he would to. That way, Lavon wouldn't have to pick her up at the airport. It made sense, and when he suggested they shared a cab, Zoe found that she didn't mind so much.

Right now, she was doing some last minute packing as Wade kept reminding her that the cab was waiting, and that the all the time they kept it waiting would add up when they had to pay the guy.

"I still don't get why you have so much stuff. You were only here a couple days."

Zoe rolled her eyes. Guys just didn't understand packing the way girls did. She zipped the last one up, and turned to him, "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Depends, how heavy did you make 'em?"

She chuckled, "You can handle it."

He picked up her luggage and headed for the door, "Wade, wait." He stopped. She went up to him and kissed him. He was taken totally off guard, but he responded quickly. It wasn't a long kiss, it was simple and innocent, but it was still a kiss from Zoe Hart, which was something he never thought he'd get again, "You realize that if you ever cheat on me again, I'll neuter you, right? I'm serious, you can never do that again."

"I can't cheat on you unless we're together." Wade said slowly.

"I know."

"Doc, are you sayin' what I think you're sayin'?"

"Well, I'm not saying that when we get back to Bluebell we'll be a couple, if that's what you mean. I have a lot of stuff to figure out. But, you know, maybe once I deal with my … grief, maybe we could try again. I mean, if you decided you wanted to try and win me back, I just thought you should know it wouldn't be a lost cause."

"You better not be shittin' me about this doc." He said with a nervous smirk.

Zoe chuckled, "Not that you wouldn't deserve it, but, no, I'm not. I've been thinking and, I don't know, maybe, it's not too late for us. Maybe there is still hope."

* * *

Author's Note: Okay, hi. So, I figured, if Zoe and Wade ever did get back together, it wouldn't be for a while, and he would really have to prove himself. I feel like this could happen, and I hope it does. I was very careful about when they had sex, making sure she was sober, making sure that he pushed her away. I could have had them just kiss, and then he pushes her away, but I felt this was better. Let me know if you disagree. Also, the list thing, I know a therapist who had their patient do that once. I don't know if it works for everybody, but I thought it might help Wade. Obviously, they've done other stuff, exercises and sessions, but I thought the list would be a cool thing to bring up. The sign language thing is not from the show, although it would be kind of cool. I wanted Zoe to be surprised by something on the list, and for some reason, sign language just kept coming back in my head and it wouldn't leave me alone, so I figured, what the hell. In case it was unclear, this is supposed to take place about a year and a half after 2x16.


End file.
